An Iconic Villain Just Became DC's New Superman with a Post-Doomsday Upgrade

WARNING: Contains Spoilers for Superman #24!In Superman’s world, there’s only one thing worse than Lex Luthor—two Lex Luthors. And that’s exactly what the Man of Steel faces in DC’s latest mind-blowing twist. While fans have long been anticipating the return of the supervillain, no one expected him to come back as a super-powered clone, clad in the Man of Steel’s post-Doomsday recovery suit.

There’s a lot to unpack in Joshua Williamson, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Alejandro Sánchez’s Superman #24. As revealed in the Superman: Lex Luthor Special, Luthor is starting to regain his memories.

This development has put Clark on edge, leading him to alert the authorities, which results in Luthor’s arrest—despite still claiming to be on the side of good. Just when things seem like they couldn’t get any worse, Mercy Graves betrays the Super-Family, going full villain mode and revealing she’s built a new Lex with plans to continue his predecessor’s world domination schemes.

DC’s New Lex Luthor Makes His Debut in Superman’s Black ‘Recovery Suit’

Main Cover by Dan Mora for Superman #24 (2025)

In this issue, Superman discovers that Mercy has been building and selling high-tech, highly destructive weapons under Supercorp’s ‘Superman brand.’ When Superman and Superwoman Lois Lane confront her about this betrayal, Mercy tries to justify her actions—but the Man of Steel finds her behavior inexcusable and fires her on the spot. In response, Mercy chillingly replies, “...you don’t get to fire me,” before revealing that she’s essentially a living, walking Kryptonite weapon. She unleashes a blast of Kryptonite from her chest, powered by a device resembling Iron Man’s Arc Reactor, which is later revealed to contain Metallo’s hard drive and heart.

With Clark and Lois incapacitated, Mercy reveals her true motives—she’s pursuing Luthor’s original plan to use Supercorp to “fix” Superman and expand his empire. Lena Luthor, Lex’s daughter, points out that her father abandoned that plan. Mercy concedes that the current Lex, missing most of his memories, can’t do what’s necessary regarding Superman and reveals she built “a new [Lex].” Mercy then unveils what appears to be either a clone or android version of Lex Luthor, clad in Superman’s black recovery suit—the same suit Clark wore after his battle with Doomsday—floating in the air with glowing red eyes.

DC’s New Lex Luthor Is Leading the Legion of Doom

Main Cover by Dan Mora for Superman #25 (2025)

The chilling reveal in Superman #24 suggests that Mercy’s recreation of Lex was modeled after Superman, granting him similar powers and making this Lex Luthor 2.0 more dangerous than ever. This upgraded version of Luthor also sheds light on a recent twist in Justice League Unlimited #5, where the closing pages reveal that Inferno—the Justice League’s current big bad—is actually the Legion of Doom, with Luthor appearing to be either the leader or one of its key figures. This reveal now explains how and why Luthor is aligned with the Legion of Doom. With an evil Lex Luthor clone and a version still suffering from memory loss, Superman fans are about to experience the best—and worst—of both worlds when it comes to this iconic character.

Superman #24 is available now from DC Comics!